Barrel Lenth for .50-70

[Niederlander]

Gentlemen, Is a 26" barrel enough to get the most out of a .50-70 with the 450 grain bullet?  It will get at least some black powder loads through it.  How about a .45-70?

[Drydock]

Kirk Bryan at Shiloh once said he'd tested different barrel lengths for performance and from 26" to 34" he didn't see a nickles worth of difference.  Mike Venturino once shot a one ton buffalo bull with a 26" 50-70-450 at 145 yards and it gave complete penetration and a one shot kill.  The chief advantages of a longer barrel in these calibers are weight for recoil and sight radius for accuracy. 

[Niederlander]

Looks like a rebore is in order!

[Jeff Michel]

I have a 24", 28" and a 30" in 50-70. Performance is pretty much identical with 425/450/500 and 470 Paper patch, smokeless and black.